Chairman Of The Board

By Juan Yossarian / Photos by Greg Cali

Bartending skateboarder (or is it skateboarding bartender?) Yancey Meyer spent four years competing on the pro circuit and isn’t keen on doing things the traditional way. He’s won shortboard street competitions on longboards, tops his margaritas with Shock Top beer floaters... and surfs on land.

The entrepreneurial father-of-three recently ran a successful Kickstarter campaign, raising funds for the development of his invention, an amphibious skateboard. Now, when Meyer isn’t pouring it on behind the bar Encinitas’ Beachside Bar & Grill, he’s slinging the first-ever surfboard you can actually ride to the beach.

PacificSD: What’s up with your new board?
Yancey Meyer: My company, WS Surf, has launched its first product, the Ampibious WaveSkate. This is the first hybrid board that changes from a carving skateboard to ripping surfboard. Just cruise down to the beach, pop off your wheels and paddle out.

What spurred the idea?
I began by designing skateboards out of old surfboards. My goal was to create a training device for surfers that went way past any skateboard-based training tool on the market. They worked so well, I knew I had something cool. They carved better, felt more authentic and were easy to ride. Then I thought, “Why can’t this board go back into the water?”

Do you prefer surfing on land or water?
I love both. Think on this: without surfing, there is no skating. A lot of skaters have completely lost track of where they come from. I’m sorry, but if you skate and have no love or respect or even warm admiration for surfing, you are lost.

What’s your best trick on a skateboard?
The Backflip. When I first did one, not many other cats had it in the bag. Also, frontside flips on tranny were always buttery for me. Thank you, Roger Cabudaul, for teaching me that trick at the Kahalui Park, in Maui.

What’s the funniest thing you’ve witnessed behind the bar at Beachside?
We used to haze our bar-backs by making them run from bar to bar, searching for the “Guinness Key.” Every bartender knew the game and would tell the bar-backs to try the bar next door. There is no Guiness Key. Too funny. Once, we had our bar-back go to VONS to find us some dingleberries. Ahhh, torturing the staff.

BEACHSIDE BAR & GRILL
806 S. Coast Highway 101, Encinitas
760.942.0738, beachsidebarandgrill.com